federal expenditures has caused quite a public reaction so that there is great -- a great concern in america today with what is going on in washington, and people are very concerned, as many -- as am i, about the deficit and about the national debt, and we're going to be called upon to raise the national debt again. when i was elected to the senate, the national debt was was $1 trillion. during the tenure of president reagan, those eight years, it increased to $3 trillion. president reagan was the great economizer. on his fiscal policies. but we have no choice when it comes to raising the debt because if we don't raise the national debt, we will be in default, and the debt is being paid for, many, many obligations, including the support of our troops in afghanistan which i will comment about in a few moments. and in the spring of this year, april, may, june, july, there was tremendous worry about what the federal government was talking about spending. $1 trillion on health care reform, $1 trillion on cap-and-trade on climate control, and great public opposition arose to what was happening in